A graduate student at the Sustainable Energy and Advanced Materials Lab works on a project to improve a petroleum-based biodegradable polymer, which can be used for flexible food packaging and then composted, by creating a polymer clay nanocomposite.

Photographer: Mark Dawson

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Jason Trembly of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment inspects a sample. He leads a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to find a way to clean wastewater from hydraulic fracturing.

Photographer: Jill Bateman

To measure stress loads from passing cars and trucks, a research engineer from the Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment installs strain gauges in perpetual pavement — engineered to last decades — on WAY-30 in Wooster, Ohio.

Spotlight on the Russ College of Engineering and Technology

With the largest endowment of any college at Ohio University, the Russ College is home to innovative and forward-thinking meta-engineers and technologists. Faculty, staff and students are leaders who have a far-reaching impact on the world around them and apply their technical expertise to the entire life cycle of a design. Whether in computing, technology management, aviation, or chemical, civil, biomedical, electrical, industrial and systems, or mechanical engineering, the Russ College and its faculty produce world-class research and applications —and the engineers and technologists of tomorrow.

A graduate student tests a device he designed and fabricated to improve the collection efficiency of a patented algae harvesting system at the Russ College’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment, directed by Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Ben Stuart. Stuart and Loehr Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dave Bayless are collaborating on a $2.5 million grant from Ohio Third Frontier to establish the Center for Algal Engineering Research and Commercialization. Bayless discovered that blue-green algae can be used to trap carbon dioxide escaping from coal-fired power plants, thereby reducing environmentally harmful emissions. Photo courtesy of the Russ College

Mechanical engineering senior design team work on a can assembly for local client Jackie O’s Brewery as part of their year-long capstone course. Students apply principles and concepts from prior core engineering classes in a major design experience, working on a team from conception, through testing, to delivery to a professional client in order to develop leadership and team-building skills while showcasing their technical abilities. Since 2009, mechanical engineering “Designing to Make a Difference” teams have won four national awards, earning almost $50,000. Photo by Rebecca Miller

The Russ College’s autonomous snowplow team, “M.A.C.S.,” took first place for the third year in a row at the Institute of Navigation’s January 2013 Autonomous Snowplow Competition. The electrical engineering team built a 600-pound, four-wheel-drive robot that uses a 360-degree scanning laser to determine the distance and angle toward beacons placed around an area to clear, enabling it to find its position within an inch and its heading within half a degree. Photo by Rebecca Miller

A bench-scale model of a farm shows how Russ Professor Gerri Botte’s electrochemical “pee to power” process can convert wastewater to hydrogen with clean water as the only byproduct. Botte was the first researcher to efficiently convert urine into an alternative fuel source, garnering more than $12 million in external research funding. Photo courtesy of the Russ College

Graduate students working at the Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology’s collect data on oil/water wetting of pipe surfaces, using large-scale multiphase flow loop, which can generate a wide variety of multiphase flow regimes and simulate the complex corrosion environments seen in real pipelines. Supporting research for leading oil and gas companies across the globe, the Russ College facility is the largest of its kind in the world. Photo by Mark Dawson

Russ College students learn and gather in the new, state-of-the-art, $30 million Osteopathic Heritage Foundations and Charles R. and Marilyn Y. Stuckey Academic & Research Center. Housing the Russ College’s classroom space and labs supporting bioengineering research in the areas of breast cancer metastasis and targeted drug delivery, the facility is only the second at Ohio University — after historic Cutler Hall — to be constructed primarily with private gifts. Photo by Mark Dawson

Undergraduate electrical engineering students perform research on the Galah, a small-scale unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), as part of their internships with the Russ College’s Avionics Engineering Center. Founded in 1963, the center’s researchers perform aviation navigation research for agencies such as NASA and the FAA, aeronautics industry leaders such as Rockwell Collins, and airports across the globe. Photo by Mark Dawson

Unique in a collegiate aviation program, a student pilot receives instruction in the Russ College’s Beechcraft Baron 55, which gives students a high-performance, multi-engine aircraft experience in a plane they’ll be flying once employed. Photo by Mark Dawson

Engineering technology and management students set up an experiment on a pneumatic trainer in Stocker Center’s Parker Hannifin Motion and Control Laboratory. Featuring brand-new equipment provided by the company, the state-of-the-art hydraulics training lab was created with a charitable gift from Parker Hannifin, Inc., in honor of 1973 Russ College alumnus and 35-year employee Jack Myslenski. Photo by Mark Dawson

Industrial and engineering students work in the Russ College's ergonomics lab to understand the role of posture and forces in reducing risk factors for repetitive stress injuries. Russ College students have placed in the top two teams for the past two years in Alabama-based Auburn Engineers, Inc.'s national ergonomics competition — beating out more than 30 other teams — in which they have to solve ergonomic design challenges using the company's eTools application. Photo by Mark Dawson